Psychoneuroendocrinology (2015) 56, 8899

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psyneuen

Testosterone and cortisol jointly modulate

risk-taking
Pranjal H. Mehta a,, Keith M. Welker b, Samuele Zilioli c,
Justin M. Carr d
a

University of Oregon, 1227 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97043, USA

University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Psychology, 325 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
c
Wayne State University, 42 W Warren Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
d
Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, ON P1B8L7, Canada
b

Received 26 November 2014; received in revised form 10 February 2015; accepted 27 February 2015

KEYWORDS
Testosterone;
Cortisol;
Risk-taking;
Impulsivity;
Traits

Summary Recent theories propose that testosterone should be positively related to risktaking, but empirical support is mixed. Building on the dual-hormone hypothesis, the present
research tested whether testosterones role in risk-taking depends on cortisol. Study 1 (N = 115)
tested this hypothesis in a mixed-sex sample with self and informant reports of risk-taking. Study
2 (N = 165) tested this hypothesis in a male-only sample with the Balloon Analog Risk Task, a
behavioral measure of risk-taking. Across both studies, there was a positive association between
basal testosterone and risk-taking among individuals low in basal cortisol but not individuals high
in basal cortisol. This pattern emerged in both males and females and across multiple measures
of risk-taking (self reports, informant reports, behavior). These studies provide novel empirical
support for the claim that testosterone and cortisol jointly regulate risk-taking. Discussion
focuses on putative mechanisms as well as implications for real-world risk-taking behaviors.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risk-taking behaviorsbehaviors that can harm the self

or others (Steinberg, 2008)include sexual risk-taking
(e.g., unprotected sex, Caruthers et al., 2014), dangerous
driving (e.g., Simons-Morton et al., 2011), nancial risktaking (e.g., Noussair et al., 2014), and substance abuse
(Castellanos-Ryan et al., 2013). Risk-taking propensity may
have evolved because of its adaptive benets in the context
of reproductive competition (Daly and Wilson, 1997; Ellis

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 541 346 0475.

E-mail address: mehta@uoregon.edu (P.H. Mehta).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.02.023
0306-4530/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

et al., 2012), but hyper-risky behaviors in modern society

can create numerous individual costs and societal burdens,
such as the spread of infections, accidents resulting in injury
or death, and instability in nancial markets.
Recently several scholars have proposed that higher
testosterone concentrations are related to increased risktaking (e.g., Apicella et al., 2008; Steinberg, 2008), but
ndings are inconsistent. Although some studies have indeed
shown positive associations between naturally occurring
testosterone or exogenous administered testosterone and
risk-taking (Van Honk et al., 2004; White et al., 2006;
Apicella et al., 2008; Coates and Herbert, 2008; Vermeersch

Testosterone and cortisol jointly modulate risk-taking

et al., 2008; Sapienza et al., 2009; Campbell et al., 2010;
Goudriaan et al., 2010; Ronay and von Hippel, 2010; Stanton
et al., 2011a; Mttnen et al., 2013; Peper et al., 2013;
van der Loos et al., 2013; Apicella et al., 2014; Evans and
Hampson, 2014), other studies have shown null or even negative associations (for null effects, see Rosenblitt et al.,
2001; Zethraeus et al., 2009; Boksem et al., 2013; Ortner
et al., 2013; van der Loos et al., 2013; Derntl et al., 2014;
for negative associations, see van Anders et al., 2012; see
also Stanton et al., 2011b for a curvilinear association).
One candidate explanation for these inconsistencies
is that testosterones role in risk-taking may depend on
cortisol, the hormonal end product of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. High cortisol is associated with
psychological stress and behavioral inhibition (Blair et al.,
2004; Dickerson and Kemeny, 2004; Roelofs et al., 2009; Tops
and Boksem, 2011; Pfattheicher and Keller, 2014), whereas
low cortisol is associated with psychological relaxation and
approach-oriented behaviors (Terburg et al., 2009; Ventura
et al., 2012). According to the dual-hormone hypothesis,
testosterone and cortisol should jointly regulate status such
that testosterone should be positively related to statusrelevant behaviors such as dominance only when cortisol
concentrations are low but not when cortisol concentrations are high (Dabbs et al., 1991; Mehta and Josephs, 2010;
Popma et al., 2007). Recent studies that measured basal
hormone proles have provided initial empirical support
for the dual-hormone hypothesis on measures of aggression, dominance, and social status (Dabbs et al., 1991;
Popma et al., 2007; Mehta and Josephs, 2010; Edwards
and Casto, 2013; Pfattheicher et al., 2013; van Den Bos
et al., 2013; Tackett et al., 2014). Status-relevant behaviors such as aggression are positively related to risk-taking
or include risk-taking as a component (Tackett et al., 2014),
neural systems that underlie aggression and risk-taking overlap to some extent (Mehta and Beer, 2010; Peper et al.,
2013), and evolutionary theories suggest that risk-taking
may have evolved as a behavioral strategy for attainment
of social status (Daly and Wilson, 1997; Ellis et al., 2012).
Thus, it seems plausible that the dual-hormone hypothesis
may extend beyond measures of aggression and dominance to measures of risk-taking as well. To address this
open question, we measured testosterone, cortisol, and
risk-taking in two studies. In both studies we tested for
independent associations between basal hormone concentrations and risk-taking (zero-order correlations) as well
as hormonal interactions (testosterone cortisol interaction
consistent with the dual-hormone hypothesis). According to
traditional neuroendocrine theories, testosterone should be
positively associated with risk-taking regardless of cortisol
concentrations. According to the dual-hormone hypothesis,
testosterone and cortisol should interact such that testosterone should be positively related to risk-taking only among
individuals low in cortisol but not among individuals high in
cortisol.

1. Study 1
Study 1 tested whether the interaction between basal
testosterone and basal cortisol predicted trait risk-taking,
which was assessed through a self-report scale (Zuckerman,

89
1991) as well as judgments by informantswell-acquainted
individuals such as friends, signicant others, and family
members (Funder and Colvin, 1988; Vazire, 2006, 2010;
Vazire and Carlson, 2011). Although self-reports are reasonably accurate predictors of behavior, they are susceptible
to cognitive and motivational biases (e.g., the motivation
to present oneself in a desirable manner). Informant ratings
are advantageous because they predict behavior above and
beyond self-reports (Vazire, 2010; Vazire and Carlson, 2011).
A combination of self and informant reports provide a more
complete picture of a persons behavioral tendencies than
either perspective alone. Moreover, a dual-hormone interaction on self-reported risk-taking is more likely to be driven
by a common third variable compared to a dual-hormone
interaction on informant-reported risk-taking. Hence, the
use of informant reports likely provides a more stringent
test of the dual-hormone hypothesis. We conducted analyses
to test whether testosterone and cortisol jointly predicted
self- and informant-reported trait risk-taking.

1.1. Methods
1.1.1. Participants
Participants (N = 115) between the ages of 18 and 30 years
were recruited to control for age-related changes in steroid
hormones and risk-taking (46.1% male, mean age: 20.57;
SD = 2.82). Participants were a mix of students and community participants in the greater Austin area who completed
the study in exchange for payment. Compensation varied
between $10 and $25 depending on decisions made in tasks
unrelated to the current research questions. The sample
was diverse (48.2% Caucasian, 7.1% African-American, 27.7%
Asian, 14.3% Latino, 2.7% who reported mixed ethnicity).
By the standards of Cohen (1988, 1992), this sample size
has adequate power (power > .80) to detect effects of a
magnitude of Pearsons r = .26 and above. All procedures
received ethics approval from the UT-Austin Institutional
Review Board.
1.1.2. Materials and procedure
1.1.2.1. Self-reported trait risk-taking. Participants completed online self-report measures prior to reporting to
the lab. Self-reported trait risk-taking was assessed using
Zuckermans impulsive sensation-seeking scale (1991). This
scale consists of nineteen true or false items concerning
the tendency to take risks for the purpose of excitement
and having unique experiences ( = .83). Scores on this
scale have been shown to predict risk-taking behaviors
(e.g., Hoyle et al., 2000; Zuckerman and Kuhlman, 2000;
Steinberg, 2008; Pharo et al., 2011; Lauriola et al., 2014).
1.1.2.2. Saliva samples and informant contact information.
After completing the online measures, participants reported
to the lab between 1030 h and 1730 h. Participants provided
informed consent, lled out questionnaires relevant to hormone measurement, and then provided a 2 mL saliva sample
(Schultheiss and Stanton, 2009). The sample was immediately transported to a freezer. Participants were also asked
to nominate at least one person to provide information on
their personality (Vazire, 2006). Participants provided email
addresses for one to three informants and were told that
these informants would be contacted to ll out a short

90
survey as part of the study. Participants then completed
tasks that were unrelated to research questions in the current paper and were paid for their participation.
1.1.2.3. Informant-reported risk-taking. We followed
published guidelines for collecting informant report data
(Vazire, 2006). Informants were contacted via email using
standardized text. The email indicated that [Name of
participant] (referred subsequently to as X) recently
participated in a psychology study and nominated them
to provide information about Xs personality. Informants
were then given a unique id number and were directed
to a website that included a personality questionnaire
about X. Informants lled out an online consent form
prior to lling out the questionnaire. Informants were
told that their responses would be used for psychological
research only and would not be shared. No compensation
was given to informants. If informants did not complete
the questionnaire after the rst email, a second reminder
email was sent. Comparable to previous research, at least
one informant provided ratings for 81% of the sample
(Vazire, 2006). Among those participants with at least one
informant rating, the average number of informants was
1.84 (SD = 0.73; approximately 35% had ratings from one
informant, 45% had ratings from two informants, and 20%
had ratings from three informants).
The informant report questionnaire included two facevalid items that assessed risk-taking. Informants were asked
to indicate to what extent they saw X as someone who
enjoys taking risks and tends to play it safe using
a 7-point Likert type scale (1 = Disagree Strongly, 7 = Agree
Strongly). We reverse coded the second item. Ratings on
these items were highly correlated (r = .54, p < .001, Cronbachs = .70) and thus were averaged to form one index
of informant-reported risk-taking. For those participants for
whom multiple informants completed the questionnaire, we
averaged across informant ratings.
1.1.2.4. Hormone assays. Saliva samples were stored in
polystyerene tubes and frozen at 20 C. Once data collection was complete, the samples were shipped frozen
overnight to Yerkes Endocrine Core Laboratory (Emory University, Atlanta, GA) and were assayed for testosterone and
cortisol using radioimmunoassay kits purchased from Diagnostic Systems Laboratories, Inc. Intra-assay variability for
testosterone averaged 8%, and inter-assay variability averaged 11%. Intra-assay variability for cortisol averaged 6%,
and inter-assay variability averaged 10%.

1.1.3. Statistical analyses

Testosterone was standardized separately within men and
women (Mehta and Josephs, 2010), and cortisol was log base
10 transformed due to skewness (Skewness = 2.59, SE = .23).
Testosterone standardized within sex was not substantially
skewed (Skewness = .26, SE = .23). High scores on the testosterone distribution indicate high levels relative to other
individuals of the same sex. This data analysis strategy in
which males and females are combined in one analysis is
in line with prior research on the dual-hormone hypothesis and has important benets (Mehta and Josephs, 2010;
Tackett et al., 2014). First, statistical power is increased in
a combined analysis. Second, patterns of hormonebehavior
relationships can be examined for statistically signicant sex

P.H. Mehta et al.

differences. Moderated regression analyses were conducted
using mean-centered predictors to calculate an interaction
term. Signicant interactions were decomposed using the
procedures of Aiken and West (1991).

1.2. Results
1.2.1. Preliminary analyses
Tables 1 and 2 display zero-order correlations and descriptive statistics for the entire sample (Table 1), as well
as for males and females separately (Table 2). As noted
in the tables, there is a moderate correlation between
self-reports and informant reports of trait risk-taking.
The size of the correlation is consistent with selfinformant agreement for other traits (Vazire, 2006). As
expected, an independent samples t-test (equal variances not assumed) revealed that mens testosterone
levels (M = 141.90, SD = 39.53) were higher than womens
(M = 27.27, SD = 11.32), t(59.42) = 20.40, p < .001, d = 5.30,
95% CI: 103.39, 125.88).1 However, men and women did
not differ in basal cortisol (t(110) = .93, p = .355, d = .18),
self-reported risk taking (t(113) = .36, p = .723, d = .07),
or informant-reported risk-taking (t(92) = .49, p = .624,
d = .10). This non-signicant sex difference in risk-taking
measures converges with recent meta-analyses, which found
only small aggregate effect sizes for sex differences in
risk-taking (Lauriola et al., 2014; Nelson, 2014). These metaanalyses included several individual studies that also found
non-signicant sex differences in risk-taking in line with
the present results. Consistent with previous research (e.g.,
Popma et al., 2007; Mehta et al., 2008; Mehta and Josephs,
2010), testosterone and cortisol (log10 transformed) were
moderately correlated (r = .38, p < .001). Although time of
day was associated with testosterone (standardized within
sex, r = .24, p = .009) and cortisol (r = .40, p < .001), age
was not associated with testosterone (r = .03, p = .795) and
marginally associated with cortisol (r = .17, p = .066).
1.2.2. Testosterone, cortisol, and trait risk-taking
Moderated regression analyses were used to examine
whether testosterone and cortisol interacted to predict risk
taking. These analyses were conducted in two separate
regression models for self-reported and informant-reported
risk taking. The results of these analyses are displayed in
Table 3.
1.2.2.1. Self-reported trait risk-taking. Consistent with
the dual-hormone hypothesis, there was a statistically signicant testosterone cortisol interaction for self-reported
trait risk-taking ( = .22, CI95 : [6.06, .52], rpartial = .22
p = .020). Simple slopes analyses (Aiken and West, 1991)
revealed that testosterone was positively associated with
self-reported risk-taking when cortisol was low (b = 1.78,
se = .64, t(106) = 2.79, p = .006). However, when cortisol was
high (+1 SD), the association between testosterone and selfreported risk-taking was non-signicant (b = .10, se = .54,

1 The variance in testosterone levels is expected to be larger in

men relative to women. The non-integer degrees of freedom in
this test are due to correcting the degrees of freedom when equal
variances cannot be assumed in an independent samples t-test.

Testosterone and cortisol jointly modulate risk-taking

Table 1

Correlations and descriptive statistics for Study 1 (entire sample).

1

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

91

T (pg/mL)
C (ng/mL)
ZT
Clog10
Self-report RT
Inf. report RT
Age
Time

SD

80.56
.21
.01
.77
9.46
4.20
20.53
14:44

63.91
.17
1.00
.28
4.43
1.22
2.82
2:36

114
112
112
112
115
94
115
115

.19*
.38***
.20*
.01
.07
.18
.14

.24*
.90***
.04
.20
.20*
.34***

.29**
.16
.03
.03
.24**

.07
.11
.17
.40***

.43***
.04
.01

.16
.08

.20*

p < .07.
p < .05.
** p < .01.
*** p < .001.
Note: T = testosterone, C = cortisol, ZT = testosterone standardized within sexes, Clog10 = log transformed cortisol, Self-report RT = selfreported trait risk-taking, Inf. report RT = informant-reported trait risk-taking, Time = time of saliva sample.
*

Table 2

Correlations and descriptive statistics for Study 1 (males and females separated).

Men

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

T (pg/mL)
C (ng/mL)
Clog10
Self-report RT
Inf. report RT
Age
Time

.31*
.29*
.10
.14
.03
.34*

Women

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

T (pg/mL)
C (ng/mL)
Clog10
Self-report RT
Inf. report RT
Age
Time

.17
.29*
.20
.14
.11
.16

SD

.17

141.90
.23
.74
9.30
4.13
21.15
14:38

39.53
.19
.28
4.28
1.09
3.29
2:40

53
51
51
53
43
53
53

SD

27.27
.20
.79
9.60
4.26
20.00
14:50

11.32
.15
.283
4.58
1.33
2.23
2:33

61
61
61
62
51
62
62

.89***
.19
.21
.28*
.28*
2

.28*
.12
.24
.32*
3

.30*
.15
.01
4

.27
.20
5

.92***
.11
.19
.03
.40**

.09
.09
.06
.47***

.52***
.11
.04

.08
.02

.24

p < .07.
p < .05.
** p < .01.
*** p < .001.
Note: T = testosterone, C = cortisol, ZT = testosterone standardized within sexes, Clog10 = log transformed cortisol, Self-report RT = selfreported trait risk-taking, Inf. report RT = informant-reported trait risk-taking, Time = time of saliva sample.
*

t(106) = .18, p = .859). Controlling for time of day ( = .06,

p = .581) and age ( = .01, p = .930) did not alter the significance of the testosterone cortisol interaction ( = .22,
CI95 : [.6.07, .41], rpartial = .22, p = .025).
1.2.2.2. Informant-reported trait risk-taking. In further
support of the dual-hormone hypothesis, there was a
statistically signicant testosterone cortisol interaction
for informant-reported risk taking ( = .31, CI95 : [1.96,
.40], rpartial = .28, p = .003). Similar to the pattern for
self-reports, there was a positive association between
testosterone and informant-reported risk-taking when cortisol was low (1 SD) (b = .53, se = .19, t(88) = 2.77,
p = .007), but not when cortisol was high (+1 SD) (b = .17,
se = .15, t(88) = 1.12, p = .268). This interaction remained

signicant ( = .35, CI95 : [.2.09, .55], rpartial = .35,

p = .001) when controlling for age ( = .26, p = .012) and time
of day ( = .07, p = .557).2
1.2.3. Testing moderation by sex
Some prior research on the dual-hormone hypothesis has
shown similar testosterone cortisol interactions on behavior for males and females (e.g., Mehta and Josephs,
2010; Tackett et al., 2014), whereas other researchers

2 In Study 1, time of day cortisol testosterone interactions

were non-signicant for self-reported risk-taking (p = .117) and
informant reported risk-taking (p = .572).

92

P.H. Mehta et al.

Table 3 Multiple regression model of testosterone cortisol interaction predicting self-reported and informant reported risktaking (n = 110 for self reports, n = 92 for informant reports).

Self-reported risk taking

Testosterone
Cortisola
Testosterone cortisolb

Informant reported risk-taking

Testosterone
Cortisola
Testosterone cortisolb

t(106)

rpartial

95% CI

.84
.15
3.29

.19
.01
.22

1.93
.10
2.36

.056
.922
.020

.18
.01
.22

(.02, 1.70)
(2.88, 3.18)
(6.06, .52)

t(88)

rpartial

95% CI

.18
.66
1.18

.15
.16
.31

1.38
1.52
3.02

.170
.133
.003

.15
.16
.31

(.08, .43)
(1.52, .21)
(1.96, .40)

Notes.
B indicates unstandardized regression coefcients. indicates standardized regression coefcients.
a Log-transformed because of skew in the distribution.
b Interaction term computed from mean centered predictors.

have shown testosterone cortisol interactions in males

but not females (e.g., Welker et al., 2014). Hence, we
also examined if sex moderated the interactive effects
of testosterone and cortisol in two regression models
featuring all main effects and cross products for selfreported and informant-reported risk taking. There were
no three-way sex testosterone cortisol interactions predicting self-reported ( = .01, p = .891, 95% CI: 6.15,
5.35) or informant-reported ( = .06, p = .607, 95% CI:
2.19, 1.29) risk-taking.3 These results indicate that the
testosterone cortisol interaction effects shown in Fig. 1
did not statistically differ between males and females.4

Even though there were non-signicant sex testosterone

cortisol interactions on self- and informant-reported risk-taking,
we conducted follow-up analyses in which we examined testosterone cortisol interactions separately in men and women to
conrm that the interaction effects were similar across the sexes.
We did not expect statistically signicant effects in all of these
analyses due to the dramatic reduction in statistical power. For
self-reported risk-taking, the interaction terms show similar patterns in men ( = .29, p = .056) and women ( = .29, p = .033). For
informant-reported risk-taking, the interaction terms also showed
similar patterns in men ( = .30, p = .114) and women ( = .35,
p = .018). These analyses converge with our main analyses, which
showed statistically signicant testosterone cortisol interactions
and non-signicant sex testosterone cortisol interactions.
4 Even
though
analyses
revealed
statistically
signicant testosterone cortisol interactions and non-signicant
sex testosterone cortisol interactions, there was a statistically
signicant cortisol sex interaction for self-reported risk-taking
( = .28, p = .007) with a pattern that conceptually replicates
prior research (Lighthall et al., 2009; van den Bos et al., 2009).
Specically, simple slopes analyses revealed a positive association between cortisol and risk-taking in men (b = 4.80, se = 2.22,
t(103) = 2.16, p = .033) and a negative trend in women (b = 3.81,
se = 2.09, t(103) = 1.82, p = .071). The cortisol sex interaction
was non-signicant for informant-reported risk-taking ( = .14,
p = .207).
3

2. Study 2
Study 1 demonstrated that endogenous cortisol and testosterone interact to predict risk-taking in line with the
dual-hormone hypothesis. The results conceptually replicated with self and informant reports of trait risk-taking.
An important next step is to test whether this dual-hormone
interaction extends to a behavioral measure of risk-taking
in an independent sample. Study 2 was designed to test the
synergistic effects of endogenous testosterone and cortisol
on a validated laboratory task of risk-taking behavior: the
Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) (Lejuez et al., 2002). We
used a well-powered sample of men who provided saliva
samples and completed the BART. Based on the predictions
of the dual-hormone hypothesis, we expected that testosterone and cortisol would interact to predict risk-taking
behavior such that testosterone would be positively related
to risk-taking only among low-cortisol individuals but not
among high-cortisol individuals.

2.1. Methods
2.1.1. Participants
Participants were 165 male undergraduate students
(Mage = 20.64, SD = 3.00) from Wayne State University who
participated for partial course credit. The sample was
diverse (38.2% Caucasian, 19.4% Black, 18.1% Asian, 4.8%
Latino, .6% Native American, and 18.8% Other). This study
was part of a larger research protocol examining the
role of hormones and individual differences predicting
risk taking (e.g., Welker et al., in press). The results
presented here do not overlap with previously published
research. Two participants were missing cortisol data,
two were missing both cortisol and testosterone data,
and one participant failed to understand the directions on the risk taking measure. Thus, the nal sample
size consisted of 160 participants, which had adequate
power (.8) to detect effects greater than or equal to
r = .22.

Testosterone and cortisol jointly modulate risk-taking

93

Figure 1 Self-reported and informant-reported risk taking as a function of testosterone and cortisol (Study 1). Note: Plotted points
represent conditional low and high values (1 SDs) of testosterone (standardized within each sex) and cortisol (log-transformed)

2.1.2. Materials and procedure

Participants arrived in the laboratory, were briefed on the
study procedures, and completed the informed consent. To
reduce the effects of diurnal variation in testosterone and
cortisol, participation sessions were held between 1100 h
and 1700 h, with the exception of one participant session
that was held until 6 PM. Participants rst completed questionnaires for approximately 2530 min before providing
their baseline saliva sample via unstimulated passive drool
through a straw.
2.1.2.1. Risk-taking behavior. After providing saliva samples, participants completed a digital version of the Balloon
Analog Risk Task (BART; Lejuez et al., 2002), a widelyused behavioral measure of risk-taking propensity wherein
participants had to acquire money points in a temporary reserve by clicking an on-screen button to pump up
30 virtual balloons in sequence. After each pump participants earned $.05, and for each $.10 of points earned,
a rafe ticket was entered in a drawing for a $150 gift
card. All balloons were set to randomly explode after any
number of pumps between one and 30 were administered.
Participants were also given the option to save the points
from the temporary reserve before the balloon exploded
and start pumping up the next balloon in the task. Thus,
each decision to continue pumping the balloon was an act
of risk-taking behavior. Similar to the other researchers
(Lejuez et al., 2002), the average number of pumps that
were given to balloons that did not explode was used as the
measure of risk taking. The BART has been found to have
testretest reliability (White et al., 2008) and high external
validity, predicting other measures of risk-taking behaviors
such as alcohol use, substance use, and risky sexual behavior
(Lejuez et al., 2002). The BART has convergent validity with
other psychological measures predicting risk-taking, such
as impulsiveness, behavioral constraint, sensation seeking, and psychopathy (Lejuez et al., 2002, 2003; Hunt
et al., 2005). For example, Lejuez et al. (2002) report
moderate positive correlations between BART scores and
self-report trait measures implicated in risk-taking such as
impulsiveness (r = .28) and sensation seeking (r = .35). Additionally, the BART has been used to study risk-taking from
a wide variety of approaches including studying the neural

mechanisms of risk-taking (Hao et al., 2008), inner-city

drug use (Hopko et al., 2006), and risk-avoidance in anxiety
(Maner et al., 2007).
2.1.2.2. Salivary hormone samples and assays. Saliva samples were stored in polystyerene tubes and frozen at 20 C
until they were assayed using commercially available kits
from DRG international. Intra-assay variability for testosterone averaged 6%, and inter-assay variability averaged 9%.
Intra-assay variability for cortisol averaged 6%, and interassay variability averaged 6%. Basal testosterone outliers
were identied (N = 2, appearing in the upper distribution
tail) and Winsorized to 3 SDs.5 Because cortisol values were
strongly positively skewed (Skewness = 6.28, SE = .19), cortisol values were transformed using a log10 transformation.
Testosterone concentrations did not show such a substantial
skew (Skewness = .97, SE = .19).

2.2. Results
2.2.1. Preliminary analyses
Table 4 presents the descriptive statistics and correlations
for the measures included in Study 2. Consistent with Study
1, testosterone and cortisol (log10 transformed) were moderately correlated (r = .33, p < .001). Time of day was not
signicantly associated with testosterone (r = .07, p = .389)
or transformed cortisol concentrations (r = .04, p = .635).
Age was unrelated to testosterone levels (r = .08, p = .299),
but had a marginally signicant, negative association with
transformed cortisol (r = .16, p = .051).
2.2.2. Testosterone, cortisol, and risk-taking behavior
Moderated regression analyses were used to assess whether
testosterone and cortisol interacted to predict risk-taking
behavior. Testosterone and transformed cortisol concentrations were mean-centered and multiplied to create
an interaction term. The results of this analysis are
presented in Table 5. Conceptually replicating Study 1,
there was a statistically signicant testosterone cortisol

5 Study 1 did not have any testosterone outliers that exceeded 3

SDs.

94

P.H. Mehta et al.

Table 4

Correlations and descriptive statistics for Study 2.

1

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

*
**

T (pg/mL)
C (ng/mL)
Clog10
Risk taking
Age
Time of day

SD

102.48
2.97
0.33
9.81
20.64
13.17

40.65
3.55
0.34
3.21
3.00
1.46

163
161
161
164
163
165

.19*
.33**
.01
.08
.07

.77**
.04
.12
.04

.07
.16
.04

.09
.01

.00

p < .052.
p < .02.
p < .001.

Table 5

Multiple regression model of testosterone cortisol interaction predicting risk-taking behavior (n = 160 men).

Risk taking behavior

Testosterone
Cortisola
Testosterone cortisolb

t(156)

rpartial

95% CI

.00
.48
.05

.06
.05
.22

.65
.62
2.67

.516
.537
.008

.05
.05
.21

(.01, .02)
(1.06, 2.03)
(.08, .01)

Notes.
B indicates unstandardized regression coefcients. indicates standardized regression coefcients.
a Log-transformed because of skew in the distribution.
b Interaction term computed from mean centered predictors.

interaction on risk-taking behavior ( = .22, CI95 : [.08,

.01], rpartial = .21, p = .005). Decomposing this interaction
(Hayes, 2013) revealed a marginally signicant positive association between testosterone and risk-taking behavior when
cortisol was low (b = .02, se = .01, t(156) = 1.97, p = .051;
1 SD), but a non-signicant negative association between
testosterone and risk-taking behavior when cortisol was high
(b = .01, se = .01, t(156) = 1.42, p = .156; +1 SD). These
simple slopes are presented in Fig. 2. Adding time of day
( = .01, p = .880) and age ( = .06, p = .429) as covariates

Figure 2 Risk-taking behavior as a function of testosterone

and cortisol (Study 2). Note: Plotted points represent conditional low and high values (1 SDs) of testosterone and cortisol
(log-transformed)

to this model did not alter the signicance of the testosterone cortisol interaction ( = .21, CI95 : [.08, .01],
rpartial = .21, p = .011).6

2.2.3. Internal meta-analysis

Next we conducted an internal meta-analysis across both
studies to provide a better estimate of the magnitude and
pattern of the dual-hormone interaction on risk-taking. This
meta-analytic approach boosts statistical power and allows
for more precise estimation (Cumming, 2013). We standardized testosterone, cortisol, and risk-taking within each
study and aggregated the two datasets (e.g., Zilioli et al.,
2014a). Then, we tested the testosterone cortisol interaction effect across both studies. This analysis revealed
a marginally signicant main effect of testosterone of
small effect size ( = .11, t(266) = 1.75, p = .081, rpartial = .11,
95% CI: [.01, .23]), no main effect of cortisol ( = .01,
t(266) = .12, p = .902, rpartial = .01, 95% CI: [.11, .12]), and
a statistically signicant testosterone cortisol interaction
of moderate effect size ( = .22, t(266) = 4.26, p < .001,
rpartial = .25, 95% CI: [.32, .12]). Simple slopes analyses indicated a positive association between testosterone
and risk-taking when cortisol was low (b = .32, se = .09,
t(266) = 3.41, p < .001), but a non-signicant negative association between testosterone and risk-taking when cortisol
was high (b = .11, se = .07, t(266) = 1.58, p = .114).

6 In study 2, there was no signicant time of day cortisol

testosterone interaction (p = .318).

Testosterone and cortisol jointly modulate risk-taking

3. Discussion
Previous studies have demonstrated that testosterone
interacts with cortisol to predict behaviors related to
dominance, aggression, and social status (Dabbs et al.,
1991; Popma et al., 2007; Mehta and Josephs, 2010; Geniole
et al., 2011; Denson et al., 2013; Edwards and Casto, 2013;
Pfattheicher et al., 2013; van Den Bos et al., 2013; Tackett
et al., 2014; Welker et al., 2014; Zilioli et al., 2014b). The
present research provides new evidence that testosterone
and cortisol interact to predict risk-taking. Across two
studies (total N = 280), we found a positive association
between basal testosterone and risk-taking among low
basal cortisolbut not high basal cortisolindividuals. This
effect was evident in both males and females and replicated across measures of self-reported trait risk-taking,
informant-reported trait risk-taking, and risk-taking behavior. The fact that the results emerged on three different
markers of risk-taking in two independent samples provides
greater condence in the robustness of the effects. These
ndings advance knowledge on the neuroendocrinology
of risk-taking in suggesting that testosterone and cortisol
work in concert to regulate risk-taking according to the
predictions of the dual-hormone hypothesis (Mehta and
Josephs, 2010) (for a related theory that predicts hormone
ratio effects instead of statistical interaction effects, see
Terburg et al., 2009; Montoya et al., 2012).
A viable mechanism for the current results resides in
the functional crosstalk between the HPG and HPA axis,
with cortisol potentially buffering the pathway between
testosterone and risky behavior. Glucocorticoids inhibit HPG
axis function at multiple levels, decrease androgen receptor levels, and suppress the effects of testosterone on
target tissues (Smith et al., 1985; Johnson et al., 1992;
Burnstein et al., 1995; Chen et al., 1997; Tilbrook et al.,
2000; Viau, 2002; Lin et al., 2014), which all may lead to
an inhibitory effect of elevated cortisol on testosterones
behavioral effects. Specically, when HPA axis activity is
reduced as reected by low cortisol levels, the reproductive axis may operate efciently leading to a robust positive
effect of testosterone on risk-taking. In contrast, when HPA
axis activity is heightened (i.e. high cortisol), the reproductive axis may be blocked or inhibited resulting in a null
association between testosterone and risk-taking.
A related mechanism for dual-hormone effects on risktaking is through increased activity in neural systems
implicated in reward sensitivity. In both animal and human
studies, testosterone boosts reward-seeking behaviors, psychological states associated with reward (e.g., enjoyment,
Mehta et al., 2014), and anticipation of reward via interactions with dopamine in the ventral striatum (e.g., nucleus
accumbens) (Packard et al., 1997, 1998; Van Honk et al.,
2004; Hermans et al., 2010; Op de Macks et al., 2011).
In contrast, exogenous cortisol down-regulates activity in
a neural reward network including the ventral striatum
(Montoya et al., 2014; but see also Lewis et al., 2014), and
activity in this region predicts increased risk-taking behaviors (Galvan et al., 2007; Rao et al., 2008; Somerville et al.,
2010). Thus, the joint effect of testosterone and cortisol
on risk-taking may be driven by the reinforcing effects of
dopamine in these motivational and reward regions of the
mesolimbic pathway.

95
A third putative mechanism for dual-hormone interactions on risk-taking may be through inhibition of pre-frontal
regions implicated in self-regulation and impulse control
(e.g., orbitofrontal cortex, OFC). Reduced OFC activity is
related to risky decisions (Eshel et al., 2007), and testosterones association with increased risk-taking and impulsive
aggression is explained by reduced OFC engagement (Mehta
and Beer, 2010) as well as reduced OFC volume (in males,
Peper et al., 2013). In contrast, heightened cortisol during risk-taking is associated with increased OFC activity
(Freeman and Beer, 2010). Further, testosterone reduces
functional connectivity between the OFC and subcortical
regions such as the amygdala (van Wingen et al., 2010;
Spielberg et al., 2014), and cortisol is related to increased
functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala (Veer et al., 2012). These ndings
suggest that dual-hormone interactions on risk-taking may
be explained by structural and functional differences in the
OFC as well as prefrontalsubcortical connectivity.
The current ndings may also reect hormonal interactions between approach and avoidance motivational systems
(Carver and White, 1994). Testosterone has been associated
with approach-oriented (e.g., dominance motivation, Mazur
and Booth, 1998) and appetitive motivation (e.g., Packard
et al., 1997; Van Honk et al., 2004; Hermans et al., 2010; Op
de Macks et al., 2011), whereas cortisol is associated with
social evaluative stress and behavioral inhibition (Dickerson
and Kemeny, 2004; Roelofs et al., 2009). Thus, a prole of
high testosterone (approach and appetitive motivation) and
low cortisol (low behavioral inhibition) may lead to heightened risk-taking, whereas the greater behavioral inhibition
tendencies associated with high cortisol may counteract the
inuence of high testosterone on risk-taking behavior (for
similar arguments, see Popma et al., 2007; Terburg et al.,
2009; Mehta and Josephs, 2010; Carr and Mehta, 2011;
Maner et al., 2012; Montoya et al., 2012).
The present results have implications for risky behaviors
in a number of different domains. The trait and behavioral risk-taking measures examined in the present studies
are reliable predictors of real-world risk-taking behaviors,
including sexual risk-taking, substance use, and dangerous
driving (Hoyle et al., 2000; Zuckerman and Kuhlman, 2000;
Lejuez et al., 2002, 2003; Hunt et al., 2005; Steinberg,
2008; Pharo et al., 2011; Lauriola et al., 2014;). Thus,
an important extension of the current research will be to
investigate whether testosterone and cortisol interact to
predict these real-world risk-taking behaviors as well (see
also Tackett et al., 2014). Another future direction will be
to test the dual-hormone hypothesis on nancial risk preferences. Indeed, overly risky nancial decisions can lead
to devastating monetary losses for the self and others, and
stable and uctuating components of the endocrine system
are theorized to play a role in the macro-level behavior of
nancial markets (Coates and Herbert, 2008; Apicella et al.,
2014; Kandasamy et al., 2014).
The current research may also inform developmental
theories of risk-taking. Risk-taking is heightened during
adolescence (Figner et al., 2009), and one of the leading
causes of death among this age group can be attributed
to poor and risky choices (e.g., motor-vehicle crashes,
other unintentional injuries; Eaton et al., 2008). Developmental researchers have theorized that pubertal increases

96
in sex hormones such as testosterone may increase risky
behavior (Somerville et al., 2010; Peper et al., 2013), but
the present study brings up the possibility that pubertal testosterone may interact with cortisol to modulate
risky decision-making in adolescents (see related evidence
for dual-hormone interactions predicting externalizing psychopathology in adolescents, Tackett et al., 2014). Further,
changes in risky decisions have been observed in older
adults compared to younger adults (Mata et al., 2011). Thus,
we suspect that the dual-hormone hypothesis may potentially explain changes in risk-taking throughout the lifespan
including older adulthood.
The present ndings also have implications for biosocial
theories of status attainment. Status in face-to-face groups
can be dened as an individuals prominence, respect, and
inuence in the eyes of others (Anderson and Kilduff, 2009).
Males in particular take risks in order to out-compete rival
males for the attention of attractive females, and these
risk-taking behaviors may increase access to mating opportunities and enhance ones status (Daly and Wilson, 1997;
Ronay and von Hippel, 2010; Ellis et al., 2012). In support
of a relationship between risk-taking and status pursuit,
research indicates that the presence of peers increases
risk-taking compared to the absence of peers among adolescents through enhanced reward processing (ventral striatum
activity; Chein et al., 2011). These results suggest that
heightened risk-taking may be a behavioral strategy aimed
at enhancing ones reputation in the eyes of others especially during adolescence (Ellis et al., 2012). However, it
remains unclear to what extent risk-taking in the present
research was inuenced by status concerns. Future research
should build upon the present ndings by considering contextual factors such as the presence versus absence of peers
in order to understand how dual-hormone interactions are
related to risk-taking in the pursuit of social status.
There are several limitations of the present research that
should be addressed in future studies. First, we assessed late
morning or afternoon hormone concentrations and examined their associations with risk-taking. Testosterone and
cortisol measured around the same time of day are moderately stable across several weeks (Liening et al., 2010),
suggesting they are reasonable measures of basal testosterone and cortisol. Test-retest reliability of these two
hormones along with evidence for testretest reliability
of the risk-taking measures we employed (Zuckerman and
Kuhlman, 2000; White et al., 2008) suggest that the current results are likely driven by associations between stable
hormone proles and stable risk-taking propensity. Nevertheless, there are diurnal rhythms in testosterone and
cortisol, and these hormones can uctuate in decisionmaking contexts (e.g., Coates and Herbert, 2008; Apicella
et al., 2014). Thus, it will be important for future studies
to collect additional saliva samples in order to investigate
stable and uctuating components of the HPG and HPA axes.
Second, we cannot be certain that testosterone and cortisol
have causal inuences on risk-taking because we measured
endogenous hormone concentrations. Future studies that
pharmacologically manipulate testosterone and cortisol are
needed to conrm causality. Third, although we tested the
dual-hormone hypotheses on widely used trait and behavioral measures of risk-taking, it is important to extend the
results of the present study to other behavioral measures of

P.H. Mehta et al.

risk-taking, such as the Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara et al.,
1994), Columbia Card Task (Figner et al., 2009), economic
decision-making measures (e.g., Gneezy and Potters, 1997;
Apicella et al., 2014), and real-world behaviors such as substance use and sexual risk-taking.
The two studies revealed consistent positive slopes
between testosterone and risk-taking only among lowcortisol individuals in line with the dual-hormone hypothesis, but there was a trend toward a negative slope between
testosterone and risk-taking behavior among high-cortisol
individuals especially in Study 2 (Fig. 2). This negative slope
was non-signicant in Study 2 and the internal meta-analysis
and therefore may be due to random statistical variation
or may have a very small effect size (for similar negative slopes, see Mehta and Josephs, 2010; Edwards and
Casto, 2013; Tackett et al., 2014). Follow-up research will be
required to unpack the pattern and mechanisms for testosterones role in risk-taking among high-cortisol individuals.
Finally, future research is needed to corroborate whether
dual-hormone associations with risk-taking are similar across
the sexes. Our rst study included both males and females
and showed a consistent pattern of the dual-hormone interaction across males and females, but Study 2 included a
very large sample of only males making it unknown whether
these results will extend to females. We encourage future
researchers to collect large samples of males and females
and test for dual-hormone interactions in both sexes. These
future studies should also explore other aspects of these
neuroendocrine systems that may account for variability in
risk-taking, such as sex differences or individual differences
in neural sensitivity to steroid hormones (Ketterson et al.,
2009; Rosvall et al., 2012).

Role of the funding source

This research was supported by a David C. McClelland dissertation fellowship awarded to PHM (Study 1) and a Wayne
State University Rumble research fellowship awarded to
KMW (Study 2). These funding sponsors were not involved
in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision
to submit the article for publication.

Conict of interest
The authors declare no conicts of interest.

Acknowledgments
We thank Lisa Benavides, David Frederick, Celina Gonzalez, Robert Josephs, Adam Massman, Elyse McCutcheon,
Will McKinnon, Ryan Norcross, Shannon Parker, Linda Pham,
Daniel Pickhardt, Puya Rezee, Rishi Sawhney, Kelsey Schults,
Sasha Simon for data collection assistance in Study 1; Elianna
Lozoya, Brian Tyminski, Jordan Liphardt, Shyneth Galicia,
Nicholas Jones, and Dylan Sedam for data collection assistance in Study 2; and Cassandra Brandes for logistical
assistance in preparing the manuscript for publication.

Testosterone and cortisol jointly modulate risk-taking

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